Food Safety Act: five food recalls that rattled the industry

3.
Spinach

In August, 2007, fresh bagged spinach was recalled by California grower Metz Fresh LLC after a sample shipped to grocery stores and food service vendors tested positive for contamination. It was the third fresh spinach recall of the year.

In 2006, bagged spinach sold by Dole was implicated in an outbreak. Fresh spinach and bagged salad greens sold by Classic Salads, LLC of Salinas, Calif., were also recalled in summer 2006.

The recalled spinach was sold in smaller bags at grocery stores, and larger bags shipped in cartons to food-service vendors.

Metz Fresh said it was able to track and hold about 90 percent of the more than 8,100 cases of tainted spinach that had shipped.